LAND AT LAST 343 



glacier, and the whole has frozen together into a con- 

 glomerate mass. A medium -sized iceberg lay off the 

 headland north of us, where the current was so strong. 

 Where we are now lying, however, there is flat fjord-ice 

 between the low island here and a larger one farther 

 south. 



" This land grows more of a problem, and I am more 

 than ever at a loss to know where we are. It is very 

 remarkable to me that the coast continually trends to the 

 south instead of to the west. I could explain it all best 

 by supposing ourselves to be on the west coast of the 

 archipelago of Franz Josef Land, were it not that the 

 variation, I think, is too great, and also for the number 

 of Ross's o-ulls there still are. Not one has with cer- 



O 



tainty been seen in Spitzbergen, and if my supposition 

 is right, this should not be far off. Yesterday we saw 

 a number of them again; they are quite as common here 

 as the other species of gull. 



''Saturday, August loth. We went up on to the 

 little islet we had camped by. It was covered by a 

 glacier, which curved over it in the shape of a shield; 

 there were slopes to all sides ; but so slight was the 

 gradient that our snow^-shoes would not even run of them- 

 selves on the crust of snow. From the ridge we had 

 a fair view, and, as the mist lifted just then, we saw 

 the land about us tolerably well. We now perceived 

 plainly that what we had been skirting along was only 

 islands. The first one was the biggest. The other land, 



